Stockport's Where The Light Gets In wins Best Medium-Sized List in the UK 2025
Stockport's Where The Light Gets In has the Best Medium-Sized List in the UK, as announced at the Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer 2025 awards in London.
On Monday 3 March, the team from Manchester restaurant Where The Light Gets In was presented with a Gold Star for the Best Medium-Sized List by category sponsor Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné.
Judge Queena Wong explained that their wine list “is purposeful and keeps true to the essence of what the establishment set out to achieve, which is reflected passionately through each line. In keeping with the food and the environment, this winner feels completely harmonious: with new drops as well as known ones, you can feel the endeavour to tell their story while ensuring it is achievable by all consumers.”
On accepting the award, sommelier Anna Frost explained how the wine list is compiled. “I think at the moment in the UK, the quality lies in finding winemakers who are exciting to work with so it’s difficult to choose them all but we try to work with as many as possible – we have 20-plus suppliers – and we have a very, very personal relationship with all of the winemakers. Our chefs know wine, our kitchen knows wine, we are very blessed in our wine list.”
Where The Light Gets In will now go up against our global Best Medium-Sized List winners in the Star Wine List of the Year International Final, to be held in Vienna on 16 June.
Explore the full list of winners at Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer 2025.
Runners Up
Silver Stars for the Best Medium-Sized List were awarded to:
Brat, London
Climat, Manchester
Etch by Steven Edwards, Brighton & Hove
Ikoyi, London
Maison François, London
OMA, London
Planque, London
The Drapers Arms, London
Jury panel
Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer 2025 was judged by four top wine experts:
• Queena Wong – collector, educator and founder of the Curious Vines community
• Jan Konetzki – independent sommelier, UK Sommelier of the Year four times.
• Stephen Wong MW – sommelier, judge and consultant
• Nina Jensen – Second-Best Sommelier of the World, 2019 and 2023 (ASI)
Categories and criteria
Star Wine List judges the wine lists in several categories such as the Best Sparkling Wine List and Best By the Glass List. These categories are the same across all of the awards. In addition, local categories may be added. We have commercial partners for certain categories, such as the Best Austrian Wine List, presented by Austrian Wine. The commercial partners are, however, never involved in the selections of finalists or winners — that is completely up to our independent jury panel.
The criteria for the jury are straightforward but not simple: vote for the most exciting wine list representing the category.
The winners in the international categories will qualify for our International Final in June 2025, where they will face off with the category winners from other countries and continents.
Read about the terms and how Star Wine List judges the wine lists here.
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Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné
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